Antarctica's hidden landscape finally revealed beneath giant ice sheet

Scientists published the most detailed map yet of Antarctica’s subglacial landscape using high-resolution satellite data and an ice‑flow perturbation method, and identified more than 30,000 previously uncharted hills.

Scientists have produced the most comprehensive map yet of the landscape beneath Antarctica's ice sheet. The work, published in Science, used high-resolution satellite observations and a technique called ice‑flow perturbation analysis. That method infers the shape of bedrock and smaller features from the ice surface. The result covers the whole continent, including areas with previous survey gaps. Key findings: - The study produced a continent-wide map of subglacial topography using satellite data combined with ice-flow perturbation analysis. - Researchers reported more than 30,000 previously uncharted hills, defined as protuberances of at least 50 metres. - The hidden landscape includes mountains, canyons, valleys, plains and plateaus dissected by glacier-carved valleys. - The Antarctic Ice Sheet averages about 2.1 km in thickness, reaches up to roughly 4.8 km in places, and contains about 70% of Earth's freshwater. - The new map fills gaps left by traditional airborne radar surveys and links landscape features across the whole continent. Summary: The map gives a more precise view of Antarctic bed shape that researchers say is important for representing friction and terrain in numerical ice‑flow models and for projecting potential contributions to sea‑level rise. The team also said the map will help identify where more detailed field surveys are needed and will inform climate assessments such as those compiled by the IPCC.